European Swimming Championships 2010

sock puppet

It's a pity his best event is a non-Olympic one. Hope he does well in the 50m free too.

lonestargirl

@ Diamondmaker

I clearly remember the first time I saw Grainne Murphy swim. I swam for Wexford and we were having our annual 'small fry' (U12s) gala. I was 15-16 and acted as stroke judge, she was 6 or 7 and just blew everybody else out of the water even at that age, finishing her fly when everyone else was only 1/3 of the way down the pool!! She's been very committed to her swimming for a long time and is great to see her (and her family's) sacrifice is starting to pay off.

mitresize5

agreed

I swim in the pool in UL early mornings and evenings and have been following her progress over the years and shes been ear marked for this type of stage from a long way off. To see her going up and down the lanes is like watching poetry in motion

With the sacrifices her whole family have made in relocating to Limerick I delighted for all of them. This really is a good news story and should be celebrated as such

Roll on London

p.s. Howw long does she have to be in Limerick before we can claim her as one of ours!!

swim2

It might be a while yet before Limerick can claim her. She is very proud to be from Wexford.
When she swims in national competitions she competes for limerick...

lonestargirl

Also, she's from county Wexford but swam for New Ross swimming club not Wexford swimming club .

Pisco Sour

Not an expert on swimming, but always love watching the big championships. Have been a bit out of tune with regards these and didnt know much about Grainne at all, so didnt even know about her race yesterday. Can somebody post a link of where I can watch her 800 free final?

Really looking forward to the 1500 final tomorrow now.

Also I was just wondering if somebody could give me a list of all Irish Medals winners at World and European (Long Course) Championships? Just want to see how Grainne's performances stack up in the history of Irish Swimming.

P.S. Dont bother listing Smiths medals as I dont recognise them.

swim2

There are another few to watch out for in the years to come, Syrenika Mc Mahon from Ulster(Leander Swim club I think & dont quote me on the spelling of her first name!!) and Shauna Smith who moved from Germany to train in Limerick (one of her parents is Irish and the other German-not sure which and she grew up in Germany so its a big move to make) who both have good potential.
Syrenika broke some Irish records at the Euro Junior championships this summer(some set by Grainne Murphy last summer) so the future is very bright for Irish swimming...

Diamondmaker

swim2 wrote: »

Hi

She hasnt come out of nowhere like someone else you are referring to!!!

I know that swimming has a bad name but not all swimmers should be tarred with the same brush.
For those of us who following swimming regularly Grainne Muprhy has been on the scene for years and seen as a hugh talent potential.

She has won medals at European junior level in the last few years and has been breaking irish records.
Dope testing is extremely strict nowdays, more so than years ago

im just keen to know, is it not unusual for a swimmer, or any athlete to make such gains, how long between the times she previously set?

Diamondmaker

lonestargirl wrote: »

@ Diamondmaker

I clearly remember the first time I saw Grainne Murphy swim. I swam for Wexford and we were having our annual 'small fry' (U12s) gala. I was 15-16 and acted as stroke judge, she was 6 or 7 and just blew everybody else out of the water even at that age, finishing her fly when everyone else was only 1/3 of the way down the pool!! She's been very committed to her swimming for a long time and is great to see her (and her family's) sacrifice is starting to pay off.

yeah and thats why she is now able to compete at this level, natural talent and born to swim you suggest... But still, are such gains, once you do get to Olympic standards, not unusual ?

Hey maybe swimmers make these sorts of gains all the time, Im only asking ?

cheers

Pisco Sour

Diamondmaker wrote: »

yeah and thats why she is now able to compete at this level, natural talent and born to swim you suggest... But still, are such gains, once you do get to Olympic standards, not unusual ?

Hey maybe swimmers make these sorts of gains all the time, Im only asking ?

cheers

Huge gains are very common, in most sports, when the swimmer/athlete is at a very young age and is only making the step up to the senior ranks. You develop fast at a young age. Then the incremental improvements become less and less.

Huge gains at the age of 26 for a Swimmer on the other hand..........

You cant even compare the 2 situations. They are worlds apart!

And dont let one bad apple ruin your enjoyment of the sport.

sock puppet

Diamondmaker wrote: »

yeah and thats why she is now able to compete at this level, natural talent and born to swim you suggest... But still, are such gains, once you do get to Olympic standards, not unusual ?

Hey maybe swimmers make these sorts of gains all the time, Im only asking ?

cheers

There are a few other swimmers who've made big gains. Lacourt is one of the biggest stories of these championships and he's really made big gains the past year too. Stephanie Rice made huge gains in 2008 leading up to the Olympics. They're just a couple of examples. I'd hate to think that someone of 15-16 was taking performance enhancing drugs.

SarahBM

look at the young british swimmers like Adlington and Miley made great gains at the olympics and are still making gains. and the likes of Sarah Sjostrom and Anastasia Chaun. they are young girls making gains in every event they swim, like so I dont see why its unusual for Murphy to be making gains.
like someone else said, if she was nearer 30 and starting to make gains, it would be a different story.

lonestargirl

Diamondmaker wrote: »

im just keen to know, is it not unusual for a swimmer, or any athlete to make such gains, how long between the times she previously set?

• 8 seconds off a 100m time would be unusual, 8 secs off an 800m not so much. Swimming is about both technique and fitness. Let's say she has been working hard on her turns this year, 800m is 16 lengths and 15 turns, improving each turn by half a second gives you 7.5 secs over the whole race.
• She probably hasn't tapered for a competition since last year's European juniors when she was 16
• This is the first year she is old enough to compete as a senior
• She had the best ever performance for an Irish swimmer at last year's European juniors, with 3 gold and 1 bronze.

hotmail.com

Any way of watching her race at 4 online, I don't have Eurosport.

sock puppet

hotmail.com wrote: »

Any way of watching her race at 4 online, I don't have Eurosport.

There should be a stream on myp2p.eu under other sports. You might need sopcast though I'm not sure as I'm not watching online. Better hurry up!

Sport101

http://www.everythingon.tv/viewChannel.php?channelId=21

hotmail.com

What lane is she in?

sock puppet

hotmail.com wrote: »

What lane is she in?

Five.

Gold looks a little out of her reach at this stage.

Sport101

4
this hungarian link is probably better
http://streamer.carnation.hu/mtvonlinem1

sock puppet

Sport101 wrote: »

4
this hungarian link is probably better
http://streamer.carnation.hu/mtvonlinem1

I may need glasses after all.

hotmail.com

Silver medal, fantastic, well done.

Sport101

Fair play, must be tough doing the 1,500 and the 800, pretty sore muscles now i'd say. Great stuff though, now back to the sunbathing!

swim2

Brilliant silver medal. she is just about to be interviewed on bbc..

hotmail.com

Excluding you know who, this is the best Irish performance for an Irish athlete at a major swimming championships. Delighted for her.

Pisco Sour

hotmail.com wrote: »

Excluding you know who, this is the best Irish performance for an Irish athlete at a major swimming championships. Delighted for her.

Only Irelands 2nd ever medal at a major long course championships, after Gary O'Toole's silver in 1989.

Marvinthefish

Fantastic swim by Grainne Murphy!

Just wondering what would the other Murphy (Barry) do if he had qualified for the 50m free semi-finals this eve?! He'd have had to swim the 50m free heats+semi-finals + 50m breaststroke final! In the end he got 23.06 in the 50m free and didn't qualify. I'm loathe to suggest it, but perhaps he took it easy to focus on the 50m breast final? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that.

Pisco Sour

What are Barry Murphy's prospects for later on?

sock puppet

04072511 wrote: »

What are Barry Murphy's prospects for later on?

He has an outside shot of a medal. All 8 qualifying times are quite close

SarahBM

Great swim from Grainne, looking forward to Barry's swim. on soon!

Marvinthefish

sock puppet wrote: »

He has an outside shot of a medal. All 8 qualifying times are quite close

Yup. If he goes anywhere near his Irish record (27.26) he'll have a good chance. Fastest semi-finalist swam 27.44. Fastest in the heats was 27.37.